A Thousand Splendid Suns

We met at the Wallingford restaurant Kabul to discuss A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini.

Over plates of warm bolani we first listed the numbers of book fair books we'd each completed. On average we each read about 4 of the books. Reaction was mixed on all titles. Some of us liked a title while others felt it earned the award for "worst. book. ever." (We'll wait until everyone has had a chance to make their own decision before posting our "recommend" or "skip" rating.)

Once that chatter died down, we ordered dinner and started in on ATSS. On this book we were in agreement that it is a worthy second effort by the author of the Kite Runner. The story was compelling, engaging and we felt that Dr. Hosseini captured the voice, emotions and thoughts of women well.

We struggled a little with the bright red bow wrapped around the end of the story but didn't feel it detracted too much. After the brutal almost unbearable ending of the Kite Runner it was nice to see that Hosseini's stories don't appear to be formulaic.

While the male / female relationships are the driving plot line the true beauty of this story is the evolution of the relationship between Miriam and Laila.

Try as we might it is hard to understand the culture of the Burhka and how it can be anything other than oppression. It is clear to us that if a society could up end itself in Afghanistan in our lifetime than it could happen anywhere. Just because we are free today to live our lives in any way we see fit, including *gasp* working outside the home, leading companies, being doctors or walking in public without male escort doesn't mean that it won't always be that way. Diligent participation in our government is important.

One of the themes of the book is the relationship between Rasheed, a pretty unlikeable man and the women in his life. The story of spousal abuse is unfortunately timeless, but a religious culture that enables it is a pretty clear sign that somewhere something is off track.

Our hope for the author is that he continues to write, we are fans!

As for dinner, next time you're in Seattle and are in the mood for a casual atmosphere and good food stop by Kabul. I recommend the Lamb Kabobs. SO GOOD!

Can't linger, we had to change the date of our next meeting so we only have two weeks to read it. Normally, it would not be a problem but Harry Potter arrives on doorsteps Saturday morning.

Amazing Lincoln

Terri --- Thanks for recapping our book club discussion. Fine job.

I’m still marveling over this book. I feel like I learned more about the Civil War in this 754 pages then I ever did in junior high.

Then again, maybe like A. J. Jacobs I was smarter back then or I’ve just forgotten a lot.

I still can’t believe the timing of his presidency. That the Civil War started within weeks of him being elected and that he was assassinated just days after the surrender.

I very much enjoyed reading about the deliberations made over every word in a speech and how the impact of all each cabinet member helped in the evolution of large announcements.

And I have much admiration for Lincoln and many of the cabinet members and generals after reading this book.

Christine

Team of Rivals, The political genius of Abraham Lincoln

You can't say that Ms. Kearns Goodwin isn't thorough. She spent over ten years researching and writing this 916 page book, the narrative ends on page 754 and she includes over 150 pages of sourcing and index. (Accuse a gal once of plagiarism and her next out will have one heck of a bibliography.)

Ms. KG gets kudos from us for bringing to life the Unions perspective of the Civil War and the machinations of the United States Government. We had some complaints about the editing. The editing was done by Ms. KG's husband which might explain the lack of brevity. It's probably hard to ask your spouse to make you dinner after you tell her the 15 pages she just wrote on some dudes luggage is extraneous. She also languished with pre-presidential candidate Lincoln. While she did an excellent job of bringing some of the early stories back there were some that while interesting didn't impact the political side of Mr. Lincoln.

In similar fashion to the Fitzgerald & Kennedy book the photographs included are placed in an unfortunate order. They give away (in non-fiction?) events that haven't happened yet. A minor complaint to be sure.

We all agreed that no leader today would dare to run their business or political cabinet like Mr. Lincoln. He brought the best of men to the table to achieve goals that were important for the country. His opinion of who was the best did not hinge on men he liked or were his advocates. A couple of these guys were down right anti-Lincoln but continued to do their jobs well so he kept them around. AMAZING!

The description of Lincoln signing the Emancipation proclamation was moving. It was impressive to learn that he had an acute awareness of the magnitude of that action. He also waited to sign it for the right moment, he has the ability to time things to achieve maximum support.

As the book drew to a close we were filled with dread. It is cruel to transform this man from the high school history version into a man of character and heart and then have him yanked away. Perhaps the lesson isn't in his death but in how he lead.

One amazing example was at the close of the civil war he chose to allow the men of the south to return home without facing retribution for their actions, and he let them return home with their weapons as long as they promised never to rise up against their country again. He immediately recognized them as fellow Americans rather than defeated enemies.

Extra Curricular Reading

Hey all

 

If anyone is looking for a quick read that's well written with good characterization and engaging contemporary themes, I recommend The Abstinence Teacher.  Let me know if you read it.  I'd be curious to hear what you think.

 

Mostly I just want to brag about having already finished one of the books.  I was so excited last night I stayed up reading long past my bedtime, and I finished this afternoon when I should have been making dinner.  Ah, fiction.  How I love thee!

 

Thanks again Melinda.

 

Beth

Thank You Book Faerie!

Each year Melinda is lucky enough to travel to New York to attend the Annual Book Expo. This is an amazing event for book lovers, it's the pre-publication promotional expose for the new season of books. The publishers bring in their heavy hitters to promote their upcoming (or newly released) books to book sellers from all over. This is one of the main events that decides what titles end up in the local bookstore.

Part of the draw is that the publishers give copies of the books to the attendees in order to promote their titles. To a book fan the idea of cruising around a huge convention center and grabbing any book you like is equivalent to that scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where everything from the grass to the river is totally edible! Sign me up please. In fact, let's sit under a cotton candy tree and read the next Michael Chambon book.

You're really only supposed to grab one or two books, but there are plenty of opportunities to snatch more. Each attendee of an authors speech will get a copy of the book they are promoting and once the talk is over there are generally copies left behind. The savvy attendee (Melinda and her co-conspirator Mark) casually make the rounds and snap up some extras to bring back home.

Last year, Melinda bestowed upon us a number of titles, and it was so much fun during the year to pass the Hard Back, just-released Philip Roth book and mention to the shop keeper, oh yeah, I read that ages ago.

This year, Mel was fortunate to get to hear about some exciting upcoming books from authors that we have read and loved, Ian McEwan (Atonement, Saturday) , Graham Swift (Last Orders), Alice Sebold (Lovely Bones, Lucky) , Khaled Hosseini, (The Kite Runner)**, and the legendary Hip Hop producer Russel Simmons. We had a robust discussion about how excited we are to read Hosseini's new book (which is in stores now) but some of us (Christine) have decided to wait to buy it until she knows she can read it as having it around the house would be torture. Mel said something like she wished she could have gotten some of those books.

We knew we were in for a treat tonight because when Mel arrived at Deborah's she had a sizable box. But WOW what a fun night as she pulled out book after book after book.

Here's the Ian McEwan! (claps of joy as the little hard backed On Chesil Beach was passed around.)

Here's Matrimony by Joshua Henkin. (squeal)

And The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold (stop, you're killing us)

And Tomorrow by Graham Swift

And The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta (He wrote Little Children - amazing)

And (seriously...AND!?) Land of Lincoln, Andrew Ferguson

And (oh man, I feel like a Chicago housewife who got tickets to the Oprah show on the day she's giving away tv's.) Peony In Love, Lisa See

The excitement around the table was palpable. We each stacked our new books in order, some by size, others in order of to be read. Melinda was obviously enjoying our reaction and then she bent down into the box and pulled out the Khaled Hosseini A Thousand Splendid Suns and giggled, I lied, here's a copy for you, and you , and you... (more hand clapping.)

We smartly abandoned the proposed book for the next meeting and chose our next selection from the pile. (Can you guess? A Thousand Splendid Suns - duh)

Thanks Melinda! What fun!


**Seriously people, if you haven't read the Kite Runner, please go get it, it's wonderful!

The Know It All

Thursday Evening, Beth's

Once again we gathered to discuss the latest book, The Know It All. The premise is one man's quest to become the smartest person on earth by reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. It's a clever, cute, funny and sometimes educational work of non-fiction.

The author's tone is conversational and personal as he describes how big of an ass he truly is. He highlights some of the more quirky facts in the EB, and like most people comments on the gossipy funny stuff like who had multiple wives or why there are ridges on the edged of coins. He also goes into wonderful detail about his participation in Mensa activities, his attempts to get on Jeopardy and a fun trip back to the sixth grade where he wasn't all that popular.

Consensus was the book was fun, light and would be a great summer beach read. Nobody said they were going to run out and try to read the EB themselves.

We debated the time line of the book and whether the author wrote as he read and then edited or read the whole EB and then started to write. We ended solidly on the wrote as he read side, and firmly believed that his "road to enlightenment" was a tad contrived. He starts out trying to be smarter than everyone in the world and ends up enlightened because there is still so much to learn. You're humble, we get it.

There were no dissenting opinions or great debates, just rousing chatter about sections that made us laugh. It was a nice palate cleanser after the depressing (but great) dust bowl book.

In perfect thematic pitch, this was the menu from our hostess Beth:

The menu features a red lentil soup with kale (a form of cabbage, green in color, in which the central leaves do not form a head. It is considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms.) A green salad with garbanzo beans (variously known as chickpea, chick pea, ceci bean, bengal gram, hummus, chana or channa) and sunflower seeds (used by Native Americans for more than 5,000 years - they were brought to Europe by the Spanish conquistadors) and bread will round out the meal.

Soup and cookie recipes have been requested.

Our next book is massive, so there's no time to dwaddle.

(I'm told the meeting order is still wrong, but I can not find my notes so it will be updated as soon as someone posts the true order or replies with the error.)

Hearty Peasant Soup

Serves: 4
Preptime: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Definitely not a salad green, broccoli rabe needs cooking to round out its flavors. This rustic soup is an excellent way to do so. But before you add the greens to the pot, clean them thoroughly. After cutting the broccoli rabe as indicated in the recipe below, place it in a large bowl of cold water and then agitate to loosen dirt. Lift broccoli rabe from the bowl (leaving dirt and silt behind) and repeat if necessary.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
course salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, plus more for seasoning if desired
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes in juice
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) cannellini beans or chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 punch (about 1 pound) broccoli rabe, cut crosswise 1 inch thick and well washed, with water still clinging to it (blanched if desired)
4 thick slices of rustic whole-wheat bread, toasted

1) heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper; cook stirring frequently, until onion is softened - 4 to 5 minutes
2) Add tomato paste and vinegar; cook stirring frequently, until slightly darkened, 2 to 3 minutes
3) Add tomates (with their juice), beans, broccoli rabe, and 4 cuts of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until broccoli rabe is tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Season with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.
4) to serve, place a slice of toasted bread in the bottom of each serving bowl; ladle soup over toast.

per serving: 403 calories; 18 g protein; 9 g fat; 65 g carb; 11 g fiber

Recipe found in body+soul
Cooked by Christine


Footnote: in searching for references on broccoli rabe another blogger's entry on this soup was located and it's linked here for your enjoyment. (Also note the odd similarity of his picture of the soup and ours. Thanks man!)